Hello everyone! I was so ready to show you the photos of this new dress but our internet allowance got gobbled up my the boys new Playstation updates which left us with snail paced internet for a week! Ah but anyway - I now present to you the most recent of my sewn projects - Julie!
Named after Julie Christie for no reason in particular! I just wanted the dear thing to have a name, and because its a darling of a dress!
Using pattern McCall's 3803, I found this to be a pattern with mixed difficulties. While the placket on the wrist uses the seam to make it, the front of the dress requires origami like folding and sewing to form what looks like two pieces sewn together.
The front is actually 1 whole piece of fabric so if you were using horizontal striped fabric it would make matching those stripes easy work, but it gets lost in plain or busy fabric, so I really don't see the sense in it, other then to either make you feel clever or stupid depending on if you defeat it or not.
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| The front button placket unfolded |
The fabric is an almost identical match to the one on the envelope! I got it from Spotlight and the design is by Repro-depot. They don't seem to have their fabric for sale any more on their website or anywhere else so it was pure luck!
I also had only just enough fabric left for 1 pocket! And I normally prefer pockets on the right hand side, but I cut this piece for the left instead. Oh well!
I also remembered not to cut it too short so that I could wear a belt with it, which gives it a rather lovely look. The dress doesn't have a zipper so it simply pulls over the head once you undo the buttons on the front.
The front of the dress has very small gathers under the yoke which create fullness for the bust.
I think I should have added a fourth button to the top or just redistributed the buttons a bit more, but otherwise I'm ok with the open look
The sleeve seam turns into the placket for the button. McCall's patterns are funny in that way. Some short cuts and some not - for example, the pants on this pattern use elastic instead of a zip, but then it calls for lined pockets.
Such a darling isn't she? I do like this dress very much and the fabric is really nice. I think though I should have ironed it for these photos right? haha Oops!
So I have pretty much worked through the pile of projects I showed in this post and have spent this weekend waiting for the internet to restart cutting out another pile! If you look at the top left of the blog home page, you'll also notice I've finally changed the "current projects" button to Butterick 4519. So that will be the next one, but in the mean time I have two dresses yet to post which I will try to get around to this week
Take care lovely people! And thanks for stopping by!
Cat xo
adorable dress
ReplyDeleteThank you! xo
DeleteVery cute - looks great. Lovely combination of pattern and fabric.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I hope i can make it again but perhaps in a plain coloured fabric
Deleteoh it's lovely, great choice of fabric and pattern
ReplyDeleteThank you lov!
DeleteVery cute. I love that the fabric is an almost identical match to the one shown on the pattern!
ReplyDeleteThanks Sarah! I'll have to start making things that don't look like the envelope. thats the second one now... haha
DeleteJulie looks just gorgeous and as do you! I think this is perhaps one of my favourites of the darling dress you've sewn and shared here. There is just something about it and it's cue print that makes me love it so much. It's looks great with the belt too!
ReplyDeleteYay! I'm so glad you love it! It is indeed a very cute dress!
DeleteThis is so cute! I am amazed that the fabric matches the pattern picture so well.
ReplyDeleteThanks! It had bought the fabric before the pattern, but once I had it I knew it was meant to be!
DeleteJulie is absolutely gorgeous on you, even better than the lady on pattern sleeve. xxx
ReplyDeleteaww thank you! I love the lady on the sleeve so i will quietly let my head get bigger over that one! hehe
DeleteIt looks really lovely, I particularly love the sleeves. Your sewing always looks so neat and professional, I'm pretty sure I've commented on that before but it always leaves me in awe! It looks lovely with the belt also.
ReplyDeleteThanks! I love this style of sleeve - straight a puffy. It definitely is one of the neatest things I've sewn. I like that its become natural on things like dresses, but if i make something tricky like a jacket, there's boo boos everywhere!
DeleteOh, Julie is a triumph! What a sweet dress, and it suits you perfectly. I am most impressed with those lovely buttoned cuffs! xxx
ReplyDeletethank you!! They are very sweet aren't they!
DeleteI love the dress, the fabric and you are looking gorgeous in it !!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much lovely!
DeleteIt's very cute. I do find the front placket fascinating..... Would love to know a bit more how it's constructed. There's no one else who's blog I read that makes as many vintage patterns as you, and I find some of the vintage techniques to be so interesting..... Would you consider occasionally sharing some pics of pattern pieces and techniques that you come across? Thankyou! :)
ReplyDeleteoh sure!! I should document things better shouldn't I! A lead up post before I just just show stuff off might be more helpful to my readers. I was just so involved making this that I didn't photograph it. And cause I didn't think anyone else would ever make it!
DeleteThis particular pattern piece looks as it does it the photo, but without that facing to start. I added the facings on to the two furthest edges and folded and sewed them in such a way that I ended up with a front that looks like it could have been two pieces with a band sewn down the front. So just like a proper shirt placket where it starts out flat and folds in itself.
Its hard to explain now because I was so focused on it, that I was just trying to get through each step without crying!
Thanks for trying to explain! You're a gem! X
DeleteFab dress, awesome fabric! Well done! And where did you get your shoes? I love them!
ReplyDelete